It was bobblehead night at Capital One Arena, a yearly event that typically sells out the stadium, regardless of the team’s record or the weather outside. This year the bobblehead was Darcy Kuemper, the Caps’ goalie who hasn’t been playing much lately due to the fact that Charlie Lindgren has been playing far better.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s ‘most important game of the season’ against the Detroit Red Wings, Lindgren made 30 not-so-easy saves and the Caps won, 4-3 in overtime, with two goals by Dylan Strome.
But I’m writing about Lindgren, who stood on his head during parts of the game, as the Red Wings outshot the Caps, 33-30.
It was also Lindgren’s 100th career game, which was made easier by the fact that he has played 40 already this year. He won his 21st game, while Kuemper has 13 wins.
The bobblehead will remind fans, however, that the Caps are pretty much stuck with Kuemper and his $5.25 million contract through the 2026-27 season, while Lindgren is making $1.1 million a year and will be commanding a huge raise when he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season.
The Caps had 1,167 boxes with 18 per box, a total of 21,006 bobbleheads. The game appeared to be a sellout, so there were more bobbleheads than fans. As usual, however, a number of loud, obnoxious Red Wings fan made it into the arena, so expect their Kuemper bobbleheads to hit eBay.
As for the bobblehead itself, it’s pretty nice. It’s got a nice, a removable helmet, good sculpt and paint job, and didn’t get stolen like those Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads that the Penguins were giving out. The only problem with it is that the stick looks like a regular stick, and not a goalie stick. Oh well.
